Steering wheel



H. J. SEVVELL ET AL STEERING WHEEL Filed April 1 1925 INVENTORS jWLwdLZMbct ll 4 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

men(su es HERBERT J. SEWELL ANDLESTE'R c.:w1 xm'G-,-oF nE'rRom MIomeAN,nssionons To SEWELL CUSHION wnEEncoMr N or nnrrnorr, MICHIGAN; Aconroaarron or DELAWARE. 1 i

' STEERING. WHEEL.

Application filed April 1,1925. Serial $419,852;

The-present invention relates to steering wheels, particularly to;wheels having wooden spiders, and has among its,objects a wheel ofgreater elasticity than. has heretofore 5 been secured in such wheels,yet stronger and cheaper without sacrifice of appearance. in Anotherobject is strong, compact, reliable means for attaching; a wooden spiderto a metal hub member whereby thewheel may be in turn secured to theshaft.

, ,Heretofore, in the production offsueh wheels the spiders have usuallylbeen made of four spokes, each of a single piece of wood formed to thedesired shape, set in the l rim ina suitable manner and joined at. thehub by some kind of interlocking joint, the hub member then beingsecured by bolting flanges to both sides of the spider. This method isexpensive and often unsightly.

The present wheel is, on the other hand, made up of a conventional rimwith a spider of laminated construction, the laminations being securedtogether by a suitable adhesive and pressed to proper form before andduring the adhesives setting. The hub member is then attached by a sortof spline 101m and secured in place by a singlenut.

The wheel may be more clearly and fully described by referring to theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the wheel wlthcertain parts removed.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the wheel on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View of a portion of one of the spokes showing thelaminated structure.

In the drawings the wheel is illustrated as being composed of a rim.5which may be of any suitable structure or composition, a spider 6 and ahub member 7.

In the preferred form the spider is made up of a plurality of layers ofthin wood veneer as is indicated in Fig. 3. These layers of wood veneerare first coated'with a suitable adhesive and superposed in a mold orform, not shown, which presses them together and at the same time givesthem the dished form indicated clearly in Fig. 2.

The central portion of the spider, which is made integral with thespokes in the man-' ner just described, is of comparatively large areaand is provided with a central openmg which. is splined at indicatedFig. 1''.

3 This opening isproduced by boring a plurality of small holesiabout theperiphery. ofEthe circle and subsequently with large cuttercuttingoutthe largercircle. "This produces a circular opening 8 havingwhat are'really splines 10 about its circumference; I i 1 Adapted tofitin the openin 8' just described is ahub member which, as a c'ylin Idr cal portion provided with longitudinal ribs orsplines 11 c of suchshape as to fit be, and preferably is, "a {casting and is proa .vided 'witli an axial: conical bore" 15 provided circular in form and is ofsomewhat larger diameter than the ribbed portion of the hub member. Thecup 18 also does not extend up as far as the top of the ribs 11 but isintended to form a support for the lower side of the spider 6.

In assembling the wheel and hub and steering shaft, the hub member isfirst slipped over the end of the steering shaft 17 and the spiderplaced upon it in the manner indicated in the drawings, the spider beingsupported upon the upper edge of the cup 18. When this has been done, awasher or plate 20 is placed on top of the spider and the several partssecured together by means of a nut 21 threaded upon the end of the shaft17. This plate 20 is of suflicient size to completely cover the splinedopening and the dimensions of the parts are such that tightening of thenut 21 will draw them tightly together.

The forming of the spider with the splined central opening co-operatingwith the splined hub member provides a simple, cheap, and effectivemeans for locking the wheel against turning on the hub member and thecup shaped portion of the hub member together with the upper plateeflectua-lly clamp the spider to the hub member with a minimum of partsand difiiculty. The advantage of this will readily be seen when it iscompared with the ordinary structure wherein the hub member is providedwith a flange and six or the under side of said spider.

more through bolts used to clamp this flange, the spider, and a ring onthe other side of the spider, together. I

Further, the superior elasticity of this form of spider is due to thelaminated structures of the spokes and to the structure. is i also "dueits great strength. By making the spider integral there are no joints toopen under strain and by crossing the grain or the several laminations,there is no possibility of splitting, as may occur With spokes 1 ofsingle pieces of wood.

We claim V 1. In combination with a steering Wheel spider having asplined central opening, a correspondingly splined hub member having acup-shaped portion surrounding the splines and spaced therefrom, saidcupshaped portion being constructed and arranged to have its edge form asupport for 2. In combination With a steering Wheel spider having asplined central opening, a correspondingly splined hub member having acircular cup-shaped portion surrounding the splines and spacedtherefrom, said cup-shaped portion being constructed and arranged tohave its edge form a support for the under side of said spider.

Q 3.,In combination with a steering Wheel spider having a splinedcentral opening, a correspondingly splined hub member having a circularcup-shaped portion surrounding the splines and spaced therefrom, saidcupsplined hub member in said opening, said hubunember having a taperedbore therethrough, and a plate upon the upper side ofsaid' spideradapted to conceal the splined portions and hold the parts in assembledrelation" when said Wheel is mounted upon a steering shaft.

HERBERT J. SEWELL. LESTER C. WILKINGr.

